Lindsey Vonn melted through her skis on her way to a bronze medal

Lindsey Vonn literally burned through the edges of her skis while taking the bronze medal in the downhill on Wednesday.

Turns out my skis got burnt out in the race yesterday. My technician thinks it happened on the 2nd gate Have to race on another pair today. Hopefully they’ll survive and stay fast the whole way down. #thatisskiracingpic.twitter.com/r8hKINANHN

According to NBC reports, Vonn was moving so fast through a few turns that the friction between her skis and the extremely icy conditions is probably what caused the melting edges.

That sort of damage could have possibly slowed her down to finish behind Sofia Goggia or Ragnhild Mowinckel. Vonn ended up 0.47 seconds behind Goggia and 0.37 seconds behind Mowinckel. That’s the difference between gold and bronze, a lousy 0.47 seconds.

Her ski technicians said the edges can be repaired by beveling, but if she was to feel the difference when she turns, it would cause problems. Even 1 millimeter of a difference could make the difference between an effective turn and a possible crash.